


Discoveries

by Prodigal_anon



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Tickling, angels trying to understand human experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 11:16:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8141815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prodigal_anon/pseuds/Prodigal_anon
Summary: Castiel is curious about human experiences.





	

Cas has been asked about his age by several of the humans in his charge – actually, all of them have asked, at some point or another, and his answer is different every time. He thinks it’s funny and endearing, the annoyed faces they make at him, but there’s no good answer he can give them, really.  

 

He’s ageless. He existed before time began to be measured.  There are ways of expressing how long ago he began to exist, but the terms would only have meaning to his Father and other angels.  And perhaps some of the older demons.  But none of them would wish to know, because they all existed in the age before time began.

 

Time started mattering in stages.  Cas remembers marveling over the alien concept when his Father began creating physical things.  Stars died. Rocks broke down into base mineral elements.  Life, eventually, began and then decayed and then returned to its primal energy state, leaving only a memory of what it was.  It gave the unchanging angels a chance to grasp the idea, of change that happened at certain increments.  

 

Dean and the other humans often seem to feel that the angels resist change, resist accepting that things have shifted, and Cas can’t really explain how much the angels have had to change to even be able to relate to mortal creatures as much as they do.  

 

For his part, Cas finds the dynamic element of life, particularly humans, to be fascinating.  He always has, although his assignments in Heaven regrettably didn’t put him in close proximity very often.  But wherever possible, Cas enjoyed observing the humans as they went through their lives.

 

He watched, from his perch in Heaven, as humans experienced emotions: love, anger, sorrow, curiosity, embarrassment, determination.  He watched as they experienced sensations of pain, pleasure, heat, cold, hunger, comfort.  He witnessed a strange phenomenon that straddled pleasure and discomfort and mirth and embarrassment simultaneously, and found it captivating.  “Tickling,” it was, and it was a near-universal expression of closeness.  It wasn’t particularly more interesting than other human experiences, just one that he noted.

 

Time passed, with slightly more meaning to Cas than before, and the wheels turned as they always were meant to, and he watched the progress of humanity and the eventual building of the elements that resulted in Dean Winchester.  Cas rescued Dean from Hell and then – well.  Cas became mired in humanity from that instant on.

 

Over the few short years he’s known Dean, which feel more full of meaning and things happening than the rest of the eternity he’s existed, Cas has been able to experience nearly all of the things that had intrigued him about humanity. Some of the experiences weren’t enjoyable – papercuts and pooping both are as unpleasant as he had surmised from his observations.  Conversely, some experiences are more beautiful than he could have credited before – he knows pride now, when he sees what Dean and Sam have accomplished with the strength of their wills; and he knows love, which was a vague concept before. He knows how much a small touch means: Dean’s hand on his shoulder.

 

But he hasn’t experienced tickling yet.

 

It’s not that Cas has been especially anxious to know what it feels like, but when he realizes at some point that he hasn’t experienced it, he becomes more curious. He waits and watches, assuming it will happen, as all the other experiences have.  But it never does.

 

He would almost feel hurt (another human thing), that they apparently don’t feel close enough to him to warrant tickling him, but fortunately he’s already learned that humans have different thresholds for these sorts of things.  Take Sam and hugging, for example.  There were several failed attempts before Cas successfully embraced the younger Winchester (Sam’s hair did indeed smell fruity, like Dean always stated, but Cas declined to comment).

 

Still, after a while of waiting, Cas becomes impatient and decides to initiate the experience himself.  Why not? He’s been human, certainly he’s earned the right!  

 

He reasons that if he instigates tickling one of the brothers, they will probably retaliate, allowing him to feel it himself.  It should probably be Dean, the more pugnacious of the two, and the one with whom Cas has the profound bond.  Cas wishes he knew where Dean was most sensitive, but regrettably, when he was Castiel the Angel of the Lord and he re-formed Dean’s body after their flight from hell, he hadn’t paid attention to those details.  No matter; this experience will hopefully be educational in that aspect as well.

 

Cas bides his time, waiting for when he judged Dean was in the best mood to respond positively.  He thinks that, at least this first time, it should not be when Sam is present.  Dean is often more open to displaying vulnerabilities in a one-on-one setting, rather than when others are present as witnesses.  

 

Luckily, Sam is in the habit of going for his lengthy morning jogs.  Cas watches him go – “runner’s high” is another thing he has not experienced, but he believes Sam when the man describes it – and when the younger brother has started off in the direction of a nearby park with jogging trails, Cas appears in the hotel room they’re using on this case.

 

Dean is still asleep.  Cas watches him for a moment, enjoying the sight of Dean Winchester at rest, which reminds him strongly of when he was carrying Dean’s soul.  He stands by the bed for a while, drinking in the view, before he decides he ought to enact his plan.  Before Sam gets back.  

 

Cas clears his throat.  Dean snaps awake, jolting upright and staring wildly at Cas, one hand reaching under his pillow, before rolling his eyes and sighing noisily.

 

“Hello, Dean,” Cas offers, lips quirking.

 

“Yo, Cas. Never get tired of doing that, do you? You know, there was a time when I thought you were staring like a creep because you didn’t know any better, rather than to fuck with me.”

 

“There was a time when that was true, yes,” Cas agrees, stepping closer to the bed.  

 

Dean eyes him.  He’s getting better at seeing when Cas is up to something, but not good enough.  “So… not that I’m not glad to see you, but is there any reason you’re stopping by?”

 

“Yes. There’s something I wish to know.”

 

Dean has enough time to look faintly alarmed but Cas is already on top of him, plucking the gun from beneath the pillow with his Grace and setting it aside before it can go off.  He pins Dean easily, using his angelic strength to assure his dominance, and sits on Dean, holding his wrists to the mattress.  

 

Dean struggles briefly and quickly stops, realizing Cas is “cheating” today.  He attempts to look cool and disdainful as he scowls up at Cas, but the blush is already starting in his cheeks.  It’s quite charming.

 

“Okay, so, you’re finally ready to learn about the birds and the bees, I take it?”  

 

Cas scoffs. “That’s not what this is about.  I want to know about tickling.”  Dean flinches and Cas’s smile widens slightly.  “Most humans are at least a little ticklish, from what I’ve observed.  How ticklish are you, Dean?”

 

“Not at all – h-hey!”  

 

“It works like this, right?  I wriggle my fingers at various points on your body?  It seems as though you’re ticklish under your arms, at any rate,” Cas observes.  He notices also that Dean’s face has gone through several rapid changes in succession – startled to annoyed to embarrassed and mirthful almost immediately. He’s fighting laughter unsuccessfully, his entire face red, and he’s trying to shove Cas off to no avail.  Cas laughs a little – a quiet, short noise – and moves his fingers slightly down Dean’s ribs, delighting in the way he tries to squirm away.

 

“AhahaHAHahaha, eeeheeheenahaha!  Cahahas, whahaha!!  Whahat are you dohohoing?!”  Dean’s trying to rally now.  He’s attempting to sneak his hands out, trying to tickle Cas back, but his arms keep slamming down defensively as Cas tickles up and down from armpits to ribcage.

 

And this is what Cas wanted, wasn’t it?  Dean’s retaliation?  So that Cas could experience tickling?

 

He looks at the way Dean’s lips are stretched wide around uncontained laughter, the way Dean’s face and neck are entirely pink now, the way Dean simultaneously wriggles away and arches his back for more, and Cas decides then and there that the retaliation can come later.

 

“It’s fairly obvious what I’m doing, isn’t it, Dean?  I’m tickling you,” Cas informs Dean solemnly, guessing that his serious demeanor will set Dean off more.  His intuition seems to be right, as Dean is dissolving into helpless laughter – or perhaps that’s because of the way Cas is now tickling Dean’s soft belly with one hand, easily batting away Dean’s meager efforts at defense with the other hand.

 

“I’m finding this  _ very _ enjoyable.  You’re very endearing this way,” Cas says, lifting the hem of Dean’s shirt and ignoring the squawk of protest before attacking the bare skin with blunt, calloused fingertips and grinning at the shriek of laughter that tumbles out of Dean.

 

Dean’s reaction is astonishing and beautiful.  Cas has never seen him so carefree and delighted.  The laughter pouring out of him is addicting.  Cas slows his fingers when he judges Dean needs some air, and smirks as Dean gasps for breath, still giggling and shaking but not trying to get away.

 

Cas teases his belly and sides slowly, watching Dean flop back and try to grab Cas’s wrists.  “You seem to be very sensitive, Dean.  Very ticklish indeed.  I’m glad you were here to inform me – hmm?”  

 

He raises his eyebrow at the unexpected, high-pitched squeal that issues from Dean’s throat, as his fingers graze the edge of Dean’s hipbones where they jut from the waist of his pants.  He stills his fingers and stares at Dean, whose face gets impossibly redder as he watches Cas with a nervous grin.

 

“That was… interesting,” Cas understates.  He flicks the edges of the hips again and Dean manages to swallow whatever embarrassing noise he was going to make but flinches bodily and starts trying to wriggle away.

 

Cas doesn’t let him, obviously.  “You’re very ticklish here?  Is this a weak spot for you, Dean?”

 

“Cohohome on, Cahahas, dohohon’t…”  Dean turns his face away, trying to hide in his pillow, starting to giggle again.

 

“That was the least convincing protest I’ve ever heard from you,” Cas says, and begins slowly rotating his thumbs into Dean’s hips.

 

The reaction is immediate and amazing: Dean shrieks, cackles, squeals, and otherwise explodes into laughter, squirming frantically and swearing when he has breath to do so.

 

“Oh my, Dean,” Cas says in delight, “You are ticklish here, aren’t you? This is the spot? Are you enjoying this?”  

 

He has no idea if Dean is even hearing him over the sound of his own laughter and begging. Eventually, Cas realizes he’s hearing Dean say his brother’s name.

 

“Sahahahahaham, Sahaham hehehelp!!”

 

Cas looks up; Sam is indeed standing in the doorway, face locked in an expression halfway between amusement and shock.  Cas hadn’t even noticed him come in from his run; he wonders how long he’s been there.

 

Sam’s already shaking his head though, hands raised in a defensive gesture, and he’s backing towards the door again.  “No way, Dean, sorry, but you’re on your own, dude.”

 

“Sahahaham youhoohoo  _ suhuhuck!! _  Ahahaheeheehaha, nahahohoho!!”  

 

Cas lets Sam escape; there will be time to play with him later.  For now, for as long as both of them are enjoying themselves, Cas intends to inspect every single ticklish inch of Dean’s body. Retaliation is inevitable, but it won’t be for a while.


End file.
